Coalition refugee plan in legal doubt

Bianca Hall and David Wroe

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison and deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop said a Coalition government would use the Australian navy to turn back asylum seeker boats. Photo: Andrew Meares

The United Nations and international law experts say a Coalition plan to block every Sri Lankan asylum seeker boat from reaching Australian waters, without first testing refugee claims, may breach international laws.

In a further sign of the tough policies the Coalition will take to the September election, shadow immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the Australian navy would be used to forcibly prevent asylum seeker boats from reaching Australian territorial waters, where they could engage Australia's international refugee protection commitments.

Australia would also bolster the resources of Sri Lanka's navy, to help it prevent asylum boats from leaving.

Mr Morrison said forcible returns in international waters would not put Australia in breach of international laws, because the UN Refugee Convention did not have extra-territorial powers.

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But the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said pushing asylum seeker boats back at sea without a proper consideration of an individual's need for protection could place Australia in breach of its international obligations.

''Any such blanket approach - as past experience has shown - is operationally difficult and dangerous for all concerned,'' a spokesman said.

Mr Morrison stopped short of saying how he would achieve the forced returns in international waters, saying he did not wish to give a ''heads up'' to people considering legal challenges.

Under refugee laws, Australia cannot forcibly remove boats once they reached Australian waters without first giving asylum seekers the chance to make their case for protection.

Natalie Klein, a professor at Macquarie University's law school, said under the law of the sea Australia did not have authority to board vessels beyond 24 nautical miles off the Australian coast

''Once a person has raised a claim of asylum, Australia doesn't escape its obligations because it's operating extra-territorially. It has to be sure it isn't sending asylum seekers back to countries where they will be persecuted,'' she said.

Professor Klein said Australia could legally board Sri Lankan boats in international waters only if the two countries signed a bilateral treaty.

Mr Morrison, deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop and border protection spokesman Michael Keenan recently returned from a tour of Sri Lanka, which they said showed the country was returning to safety after civil war. Mr Morrison said getting on a boat now posed a greater threat to Sri Lankans' lives than staying in the country.

Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said the returns would be in clear breach of international laws. ''It simply can't be done. It can't be done legally,'' the senator said.